The Choice of a Stone
by helvengurl
Summary: Who gets Mikan's Alice stone? Fluff. Like, Fluff from hell. Flaming fluff from hell *on wheels* XD


_YAY MORE FLUFFY ONE-SHOTS!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!! ANY WHO, R&R PLEASE!_

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**The Choice of a Stone**

As she focuses on pouring all her energy into the growing orb in her hand, a shadow passes over her. Looking up from her lap to the starry sky, long russet curls blow in a slight, sweet summer breeze. However, she banishes all thoughts that can distract her. She has had so long to make one, but too long has she been unable to properly concentrate. Stray faces, future decisions hang over her like smog. Around others, she smiles. Her smile is her strength. It tells others all is okay.

However, not all is okay. Too many tears are soaked up by her pillow. Too many days she walks between two, unsure of herself. _Away, Away_ she berates herself. _All that matters is this. _From auburn eyes, crystalline tears flow into her cupped hands. _Breathe life_ sensei told her. She lowers her lips to her cupped hands and blows, thinking only sweet things.

The orb flares yellow with life. It is done. Finally she has success. She has her Alice stone. Ruka-pyon had his long ago, and Natsume hid his in a place none knew about. "I'll die soon. There is no need to give it away, Baka," he says whenever she persists. Hanging it around her neck, she knows that tomorrow is another day. She will have to choose her way. But now she has her mild success.

Lying on her bed, she cradles it and drifts off to sleep.

* * *

"Ruka Pyon!" she hugs him as she kneels beside him. He smiles to her, the smile that melts her heart in many ways. The day is sunny, and she giggles as she pulls away from him. Deft fingers catch her, and entwine themselves in her own. She smiles more, her eyes sparkling with a joy that is given to her by this man.

Blue eyes meet her darker toffee ones, and then linger to the necklace she wears. Sitting up, he reaches out and gently touches it, as though such a precious crystal may break into a thousand pieces, and then he could do naught but cry the tears of the world. "Mikan," his voice is soft between the two of them, drifting across the space that separates them, binding them in a way thought impossible by just one word. The serene scene is an innocent beauty, but as their eyes meet once more, a silent battle is waged.

Desperate to quench the drowning sensation rising up his throat, he pulls off his own blue stone and offers it to her. "I remember the lake," he whispers.

She, too, remembers the lake. She remembers what she told him in innocent ignorance. How simple those words seemed then! But, as she walked into the shadows, to Natsume, she realized that the words meant much more than she knew previously, and the glassy, mirror-like surface of the lake clouded.

_When that day comes,_

_Yeah?_

_I'll give the stone I make to Ruka-pyon!_

_I really wonder if that day will come._

_Let's exchange!_

_**Do you know what it means to exchange Alice stones?**_

_**If you really exchange Alice stones**_

_**It means…**_

_**You're engaged to be future partners,**_

_**Dating, that is!**_

She pulls off her own necklace, clutching it in her fist, before she stands up, looking away in shame. "I'm sorry, Ruka-pyon. I do not know." She turns to walk away, resisting the urge to run.

_Wait,_ he wants only to cry out, but his throat is dry with shock. Instead he rises to his knees, silently grabbing her hand, pulling him to her. He rests his head against her midsection, his arms soon wrapping around her waist.

Once, he had a dream. In this dream, they were deep within the forest, one as the other. She glows in this dream, in the sunny clearing, with a heavenly aura. He is kneeling before, head on her stomach. His head is on her _bulging_ stomach. In this dream, he turns his head to the side, pressing his ear against it, to hear the sound of his child in its nesting-place. In this dream, he kisses her stomach and looks up at her, a brief moment of joy in their shared future passing between them.

However, this is not his dream. This is reality, and in reality he cries silent tears at the realization his dream can never be. Gently, as though his child really was there, and this was all some nightmare, he gently presses his lips to her stomach.

Somehow this brings her to his knees. Gentle hands make him look at her. "You know the answer, Mikan." His voice is half-choked with a conglomeration of emotions, "But you want to protect me."

Soft hands trace her skin; her eyebrows, her nose and eyelashes, and imploring blue eyes take it all in, as if for the last time. Finally his hands and eyes fall onto her lips. She quakes but he is so entranced by the feeling he has yearned for so long. He does not want an accidental kiss. He does not want an embrace. He wants to truly kiss her, to let her see just how much he loves her. "Please, just once. Just once in all these years," he begs softly.

She leans in closer, her fingers toying in his honey locks. If ever there was a_ yes_, this was it. He would not let perhaps his last chance to ever hold her close go untaken. He lowers his lips to hers, and there is a slight surprise from her, her body tensing momentarily before it relaxes into his.

It feels like he always thought it would, soft and sweet, her body pressed against his, fingers in his hair. But he knows it is not meant to be. He knows a part of her wants him, and a part of him darkly wants to make her all his, but he knows also that it can not occur now. He knows it is very much wrong somehow.

He pulls away from her, and pushes himself far away. He can not continue like this. He knows very soon he could lose control and never let her go. She stands up quickly, pulling back from him, her cheeks rosy in some sort of embarrassment, tears piling up in her eyes.

She turns to run away, and he stands up, looking at the ground. "Know this, Mikan. Whatever man you give that stone, I can never forgive." He turns, and she looks at him a moment, before they run in opposite directions.

* * *

Days later, Ruka goes to see her, to ask once more before he gives his Alice stone an everlasting residence at the bottom of the lake. He sees her running to the forest, night as her cover, and follows her from a distance. She comes deep into the forest where an ebony-haired boy sits, contemplating how he has lived so long. Purple eyes dart to the girl a moment, "Go away, Baka" he says, but she steps forward.

She clutches something to her chest.

"Natsume-kun?" she implores.

The fair-haired boy has arrived, taking cover behind a tree as he realizes his folly.

"Go away, Baka!" he says louder. Now is not the moment he is ready to see her. Deep in the woods he is only himself, not the Black Cat. He stands up as she takes another step towards him. His life has prepared him to take his life as opposed to being captured, but not for the persistence of a girl.

The baka won't even listen to him about her damn hair. He reaches out and pulls the tail of the one bow, and it falls out of her hair. He does the same to the other side, and says, "There. You're fixed. Now go away, polka-dots."

She shakes her head, the curls dancing around before she smiles at him, "No."

"Baka, I'll toast you. Go away, strawberry fields."

"You don't want your Alice, do you?" she takes another step, standing in front of him. He does not need to say anything. The look in his eyes says it all. She is not strong enough to take it away. She knows this.

_Let me be your strength._

"Give me your hand, _Baka_" she taunts.

"No." he says. He knows what she is thinking. He can not do it though. He can not, because his Ruka would be broken. She goes to grab his hand, and in a split second, they are wrestling, each trying to win for their own reasons. Ruka almost laughed, but suddenly stopped as he heard his friend- his Natsume- laughing too.

She stops, her brown curls falling down around them. At that moment, Ruka knows what would occur. He knows what _he_ would do, and drops to his knees.

Inside the soft curtain of curls, he smiles. "Natsume- you, you're-" she stutters. He does not know what he is thinking, only that right now he feels better than he ever has. He knows right now, he does not want to move. He just smiles at her. She smiles back at him; somehow she entwines her fingers in his, her stone between their hands, warming from them. Tears are welling up in her eyes, "I-" she is unsure what to say, "- I make Natsume-kun happy?"

Natsume knows he shouldn't say anything. He knows his Ruka would be broken. But somehow, her beautiful curls isolating them from the world around them, the intoxicating scent of her; makes him abandon all reason. He nods his head, and she comes crashing down on him, her lips pressing against his. He can not resist. Somehow this girl, despite his cruel jibes and sneers, has somehow seen past the 'Black Cat' to the man he is when he is alone. He sits up, not realizing he is clutching her stone.

His hands wrap around her waist, pulling her close to him, kissing her back so hard as to scar her as his, and she wraps her arms around his neck.

Ruka tries not to cry. Tears should not be shed. Finally gaining his senses, Natsume pulls himself away, and hides his face in the tree. Looking in the small hole, he sees the red orb of his Alice stone. He still clutched her stone.

He reaches in and holds it in his hand a moment. Knowing the worst is to come, he holds it out, and she peers over his hand at it. Her fingers brush it, and in the process, his hand. He puts it over her head, the exchange sealed by a kiss on the forehead.

"Why?" Both heads snap around to see Ruka standing there. "Why?" he roars. For the first time, Mikan is scared. She shrinks back, as he rushes forward and seizes her face, "Why him?" he demands. "Why do you make me hate him?"

Natsume steps forward, placing a hand in his chest as she whimpers. "Don't, Ruka." Ruka backs away, tears hardly restrained before he turns to he friend- his brother.

"I once if you were happy, I would be also." They touch heads. "But I can not forgive you for this." He pulls away from Natsume, dropping his blue stone in the dirt.

Mikan whimpers and rushes to Ruka, because she can't stand the pain she sees. She stops as his gaze accusingly falls in her. She drops down to the ground, picking up the blue stone. She drops it in his hand. "Please don't be angry with him. It's beautiful, but-" she sadly looks at him, imploring him to see the truth, "-not for me. It's beautiful for someone else."

Ruka looks at her. She is so tantalizingly close to him. He could kiss her right here, in front of Natsume, make him feel every ounce of pain he feels from the image branded in his mind, but he doesn't. He takes the stone and puts it on the ground. "I made this stone for you." He says.

He brings his foot down on it, and the stone shatters, "And I made it for no one else." Blue light surrounds them for a second, and she sobs over the azure dust, and Ruka looks back at her a moment.

And then he runs.


End file.
